With the bowling attack put to the Turkish sword on another wonderful track at Belmont (not helped by a resumption of normal, butter fingered service in the field), Straggler batsmen ultimately withstood a combination of heavy artillery, artifice and desertion in the face of the enemy, to resist overwhelming odds, much as the Knights Hospitaller had withstood the forces of the Ottoman Sultan invading Malta in 1565. Just as Grand Master, Jean de Vallette, mustered his forces to a final successful defence, so skipper Stabb held the Turks at bay in the final assault, only to remind them of hidden power with a six blasted over the parapets off the last ball.
